In 2012, the HEARTH Act consolidated the three types of funding ac=vi=es in the McKinney Act (Suppor=ve Housing SHP, Shelter Plus Care and Sec=on 8 Moderate Rehab SRO Program) and created one single program called the Con=nuum of Care (CoC) Program. The program is now governed by an interim rule.
The CoC program has always been designed to promote community wide planning and strategic use of resources: 1) to address homelessness, 2) improve coordina=on and integra=on with mainstream resources and other programs targeted to people experiencing homelessness, 3) improve data collec=on and performance measurement, and 4) allow each community to tailor its program to the par=cular strengths and challenges with that community
Eligible applicants have been and are: States/Local Governments and Non Profit organiza=ons. The en=ty applying for the grant is called the recipient. Recipients then may contract with other organiza=ons or government en==es who are called subrecipients.
- 1 st year grant received, 1995, $1M over 3 years 1 grant - 18 th year grant received, 2012, $6M over 1 yr. 45 grants - Es=mated renewal demand for 2013 - $5.8M over 1 year 45 grants
- HSN is not the Con=nuum of Care - HSN is the Lead Agency of the Con=nuum of Care
Who is our Con=nuum of Care: Anyone who: - Works for a business, government agency, advocacy group, school district, social services provider, vic=m service provider, non- profit homeless assistance provider, faith- based organiza=on, public housing agency, hospital, university, affordable housing developer, law enforcement agency, or veterans service organiza=on that impacts homelessness or is impacted by homelessness - Cares about the homeless and how their needs are being addressed in our community. - is currently or formerly homeless.
- What HSN Does: - coordinates the implementa=on of the housing and service system within our geographic areas - convenes monthly mee=ngs of the con=nuum of care - sponsors workgroups and commi`ees that address issues concerning homelessness in our community - implemented and maintains HMIS - conducts Point in Time Count - monitors its subrecipients and established performance standards for its subrecipients
- In 2010, new federal strategic plan was released - Geared toward preven=ng and ending homelessness, - Called Opening Doors: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness - Called the first comprehensive federal plan developed to prevent and end homelessness.
- Focused on four key goals: - (1) Finish the job of ending chronic homelessness in five years - (2) Prevent and end homelessness among Veterans in five years - (3) Prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children in ten years - (4) Set a path to ending all types of homelessness.
In the 2011 and 2012 Con=nuum of Care compe==ons, HSN began to look at the performance of its subrecipients and the type of housing that we have in our community, with an eye to retooling underperforming projects so that they be`er fit with the new federal priori=es.
In our 2012 applica=on, our CoC adopted strategic goals in line with the new federal goals. The following are the strategies that HUD expected CoC communi=es to be following in 2012 when addressing homelessness:
1) Create new permanent housing beds for chronically homeless persons (we indicated we had created none) 2) Increase the percentage of par=cipants remaining in CoC funded permanent housing projects for at least 6 months to 80% (we have 85%) 3) Increase the percentage of par=cipants in CoC funded transi=onal housing that move into permanent housing to 65% or more (we have 56%- we show goal of increasing to 60% in 12 months, 70% in 5 years and 75% in 10 years) 4) Increase the percentage of par=cipants in all CoC funded projects that are employed at program exit to 20% or more (we have 34%.) 5) Increase the percentage of par=cipants in all CoC funded projects that obtained mainstream benefits at program exit to 20% or more (we have 65%) 6) Decrease the number of homeless individuals and families 7) Intent of CoC to reallocate suppor=ve services only and transi=onal housing projects to create new permanent housing projects (we indicated we would submit 1 in 2013)
Another area that HUD expected communi=es to address was discharge planning for the following: Foster Care; Health Care; Mental Health; Correc=ons HUD expects each CoC to have a discharge plan for each area and if it does not have one, then it must describe the gaps in comple=ng a comprehensive discharge plan, as well as iden=fy the stakeholders and collabora=ng agencies that are responsible for ensuring that persons being discharged are not rou=nely discharged into homelessness workgroup task
2012 applica=on had max score of 134, 130 pts with 4 bonus points The score needed to get a new project was 97 We scored 85.2. As a result we did not receive any new projects. We did get all of our renewals funded. We also reallocated the original suppor=ve services project that was our very first grant in 1995 to one for coordinated assessment which is now required of CoCs under the new rule.
2013 NOFA One applica=on for 2013 and 2014 No new projects Renewals and Reallocated projects only The NOFA lays out HUD s homeless policy priori=es with the goal being to have CoCs think and act more strategically and to move toward mee=ng the goals of Opening Doors
- Goals of Opening Doors: - (1) Finish the job of ending chronic homelessness in five years - (2) Prevent and end homelessness among Veterans in five years - (3) Prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children in ten years - (4) Set a path to ending all types of homelessness.
HUD an=cipates there will not be sufficient funding to renew all projects eligible for renewal in FY 2013. HUD requires that we priori=ze our projects for funding. So how we priori=ze our projects for funding will be cri=cal, as the scoring criteria rely heavily on the homeless priori=es
Planning Ques=ons End chronic homelessness by increasing the number of permanent housing beds for the chronically homeless, as well as the specific strategies and ac=ons we will take to achieve the goal of ending chronic homelessness by 2015 Improve the housing stability of par=cipants in our projects
Descrip=ons of Processes in our CoC Barriers to Entry: The steps we are taking to assess exis=ng barriers to entry into our programs and how we plan to remove them Rapid Rehousing: Wri`en policies and procedures for determining and priori=zing which eligible homeless individuals will receive Rapid Rehousing (as opposed to first come/first served), amt or % of rent that each person must pay, whether projects follow- up with program par=cipants aner the assistance ends
Descrip=ons of Processes in our CoC Efforts to address needs of vic=ms of domes=c violence, including clear descrip=on of services and safe housing from all funding sources available in CoC to serve this popula=on Efforts to address needs youth homelessness, including clear descrip=on of services and housing from all funding sources available in CoC to serve this popula=on, for all youth or only specific youth btwn ages of 16 to 17 or 18 to 24. How coordinate with local educa=on authori=es to assist iden=fica=on of homeless persons
Descrip=ons of Processes in our CoC Discharge policies for foster care, health care, mental health and correc=ons Efforts to reduce the number of homeless households with children, and an outreach plan CoC s strategy to reduce the number of individuals and families who become homeless, current homeless preven=on efforts in place
Descrip=ons of Processes in our CoC How coordinate with other main stream funders How iden=fying alternate sources for suppor=ve services
2013 HUD FUNDING PRIORITIES 1) Renewal permanent housing projects, RRH and PSH 2) New PSH projects created through realloca=on for 100% chronically homeless 3) New RRH projects created through realloca=on for homeless households with children 4) Renewal TH 5) CoC Planning costs 6) UFA costs 7) SSO Projects for centralized or coordinated assessment system 8) Renewal HMIS 9) All other renewal suppor=ve services only projects
SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT Even if we are doing everything right, we are a long way from mee=ng the goal of ending homelessness. Here are some cri=cal ques=ons we need to begin asking ourselves:
1) Is permanent suppor=ve housing being used in a strategic manner that priori=zes those that need it most (as opposed to first come, first serve)? 2) Is permanent housing being implemented using a housing first model? (research is showing that implemen=ng housing first on a system- wide basis is the best way to end chronic homelessness) 3) Is rapid re- housing being used as effec=vely as possible?(we have no funded rapid re- housing projects in our con=nuum applica=on)